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Governor Watson C. Squire telegram to General John Gibbon regarding the urgent need for federal troops to quell anti-Chinese riots, February 7, 1886

Watson Carvosso Squire, 1838-1926, was an attorney, Civil War veteran, industrialist, and governor of Washington Territory from 1884-1887. He was president of the Washington Statehood Convention in 1889 and served as a Washington State senator from 1889-1897. After the passage of the national Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, anti-Chinese agitation on the West Coast reached a fever pitch in 1885-1886. Governor Squire was forced to declare martial law in Seattle to maintain order during the anti-Chinese riots in Seattle and Tacoma, and later investigated property losses of the Chinese.

John Gibbon, 1827-1896, was a veteran of the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the Indian Wars of the late 19th Century. Having served as a general during the Civil War, he reverted to the rank of colonel and fought in the campaign against the Sioux in 1876. In 1885, he was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of the Army of the Pacific Northwest, a position he held until his retirement in 1891.